Las Vegas Raiders: 50 greatest players in franchise history

Though never the best player at his position in the pros, wide receiver Tim Brown is in rare company. He is one of only a handful of players that have won a Heisman Trophy and been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Los Angeles used its first-round pick in the 1988 NFL Draft on the 1987 Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver/return specialist.

Yes, Brown won the Heisman playing predominantly wide receiver. While he would begin his NFL career as a return man, Brown would emerge a superstar wide receiver in the early 1990s. Brown twice made it to the Pro Bowl as a return man in 1988 as a rookie and again in 1991. Beginning in 1993, Brown would make the Pro Bowl for five straight seasons as a wide receiver.

Overall, he made nine Pro Bowls in his 17-year NFL career. He led the league in receptions with 104 in 1997. Brown obviously made the NFL’s All-Decade Team in the 1990s. From 1993 to 2001, Brown had over 1,000 receiving yards in each season. He would be an integral part of the 2002 AFC Championship team that fell short to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Brown would retire after the 2004 NFL season where he briefly played for Jon Gruden in Tampa. In his NFL career, Brown accumulated 1,094 receptions for 14,934 yards and 100 touchdowns. Brown was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. Given the nature of the wide receiver log jam in Canton, Brown would have to wait until 2015 to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His Canton classmates include Charles Haley, Junior Seau, and Ron Wolf.